If there were such a thing as Olympic genes, you'd
have to say that the genes run in the Roethlisberger family. Fred Roethlisberger competed
for the USA at the 1968 Olympics, and captained the USA's 1967
PanAm team in Winnipeg, winning gold medals in the AA, HB and PB.
Fred coached two of his three children to Olympic success. His
daughter and eldest child, Marie, served as the alternate on the
1984 Olympic team and his eldest son, John, competed in both the
1992 and 1996 Olympics. Fred's youngest son, Gus, is still quite
young (born in 1987, I think!).
Marie Roethlisberger was on the
USA National team for six years. A specialist on the uneven bars,
Marie just missed making several important U.S. squads - she was
the alternate for both the 1983 World and 1984 Olympic teams.
Marie's biggest competition was the 1985 World Championships; in
Montreal she placed a very respectable 17th all around.
Following her elite international
gymnastics career, Marie competed for the University of Minnesota
in collegiate gymnastics. Marie is recognized as one of the most
successful UMTC athletes in history. During her collegiate career
she became the Big 10 AA champion twice, the 1990 NCAA Regional
all around champion, and the 1990 NCAA National bars champion.
Not surprisingly, she was later awarded the Honda Award (top NCAA
athlete of the year for all sports).
In 1998, Marie was inducted into
the Minnesota Hall of Fame. According to a post on Gymn-L, Marie gave a fabulous acceptance speech, speaking
fondly of friends and throwing some humour in for the crowd.
During her speech, Marie spoke about one of her frst competitions
as a child. Marie was so off on her timing (a childhood bout of
meningitis left her hearing impaired) that she had to hold to
final pose for a full 30 seconds while she waited for the music
to catch up with her!
Marie spent the latter part of the 1990s finishing up her medical residency (in Family Medicine) in Appleton, Wisconsin. She is now a family
physician in Madison, Wisconsin.
| Marie Roethlisberger
was born on May 12, 1966. |
. This page was created on July 1, 1999 and last updated on January 14, 2002.
| 